The federal government backed off its attempt to force Twitter to surrender information about an anonymous account, withdrawing its demand a day after Twitter filed a suit to block the summons. (The New York Times, April 7, 2017, by Mike Isaac)
Twitter stood up to federal government demands that it reveal the identity of an account critical of the president’s immigration policies. The social media company made a strong statement for free speech in its legal filing against the Trump administration. Trump’s assent has been countered on Twitter by “a new and innovative class of American speakers … who provide views and commentary that is often vigorously opposed, resistant or ‘alternative’ to the official actions and policies of the new administration,” read the filing. (Reuters, April 7, 2017, by Dustin Volz)
Twitter has been criticized for its slack efforts to fight trolls and bots but has consistently fought government efforts to access user information. Now Twitter is asking a federal judge in San Francisco to block Homeland Security’s order for details about an account which claims is the work of employees of the Citizenship and Immigration Services. (Fortune, April 7, 2017, by Mathew Ingram)